Scottish Parliament

Written Answers

Tuesday 9 November 1999

Scottish Executive

Farming

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to promote the sale and consumption of Scottish meat in Scotland and internationally.

Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive continues to support, both at home and abroad, the marketing and promotional efforts of Scotland’s meat and livestock industry. The formation of the new Scottish Quality Meat Council, which I announced on 8 November, will strengthen the industry’s ability to sell Scotland’s quality beef, lamb and pork in existing as well as new markets.

Farming

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what was the level of Meat and Livestock Commission and other public sector grants awarded to bodies involved in the promotion of meat and associated products, such as the Scotch Beef and Lamb Association, in each of the last five years, giving the name of each organisation and the amount of each award granted.

Ross Finnie: The information is as follows:

  


Year 


Company 
  


Grant Award (£) 
  


Source 
  




1995-96 
  

SCOTMEX 
  

409,000 
  

Scottish Enterprise 
  


 

SCOTMEX 
  

88,176 
  

Scottish Office 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

978,000 
  

Meat & Livestock 
  Commission 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

31,740† 
  

European Commission 
   
  


 

SQBLA 
  

92,000 
  

Scottish Enterprise 
  


 

SPII 
  

16,416 
  

Scottish Enterprise 
  



1996-97 
  

SQBLA 
  

150,000 
  

Scottish Office 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

150,000 
  

Scottish Office 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

1,077,387 
  

Meat & Livestock 
  Commission 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

133,212† 
  

European Commission 
   
  


 

SQBLA 
  

150,000* 
  

Scottish Office 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

147,500* 
  

Scottish Office 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

150,000* 
  

Scottish Office 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

130,000* 
  

Scottish Office 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

110,000* 
  

Scottish Office 
  


 

SPII 
  

180,000 
  

Meat & Livestock 
  Commission 
  



1997-98 
  

SQBLA 
  

1,007,651 
  

Meat & Livestock 
  Commission 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

85,589  
  

European Commission 
   
  


 

SQBLA 
  

100,000* 
  

Scottish Office 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

100,050* 
  

Scottish Office 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

28,500* 
  

Scottish Office 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

105,000* 
  

Scottish Office 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

150,000* 
  

Scottish Office 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

100,000* 
  

Scottish Office 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

150,000* 
  

Scottish Office 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

56,825* 
  

Scottish Office 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

20,000* 
  

Scottish Office 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

46,500* 
  

Scottish Office 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

5,715* 
  

Scottish Office 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

339,000 
  

Highland & Islands 
  Enterprise 
  


 

SPII 
  

48,980 
  

Scottish Office  
  


 

SPII 
  

200,000 
  

Meat & Livestock 
  Commission 
  



1998-99 
  

SQBLA 
  

1,115,837 
  

Meat & Livestock 
  Commission 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

154,740† 
  

European Commission 
   
  


 

SQBLA 
  

6,500* 
  

Scottish Office 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

150,000* 
  

Scottish Office 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

150,000* 
  

Scottish Office 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

40,000* 
  

Scottish Office 
  


 

SQBLA 
  

70,000* 
  

Scottish Office 
  


 

SPII 
  

50,192 
  

Scottish Enterprise 
  


 

SPII 
  

150,000 
  

Scottish Office  
  


 

SPII 
  

270,000 
  

Meat & Livestock 
  Commission 
  


 

MLC 
  

581,000 
  

Highlands & Islands 
  Enterprise 
  



1999-2000 
  

SQBLA 
  

150,000 
  

Scottish Executive 
  



(to date) 
  

SQBLA 
  

190,000† 
  

European Commission 
   
  


 

SQBLA 
  

631,083 
  

Meat & Livestock 
  Commission 
  


 

SPII 
  

270,000 
  

Meat & Livestock 
  Commission  
  


 

SQBLA 
  

72,000 
  

Scottish Borders Enterprise 
  



  * Awarded under the Scotch Beef Quality Assurance and Marketing Initiative which was a three year programme under the Marketing Development Scheme to develop quality assurance systems to recognised EU standards at all links in the production and marketing chain.

  † Funding from EU routed through the Intervention Board for Agricultural Produce and the Meat and Livestock Commission specifically for the promotion of European Quality Beef.

  SQBLA (Scotch Quality Beef and Lamb Association)

  SPII (Scottish Pig Industry Initiative)

  SCOTMEX (Scottish Meat Executive, which became part of SQBLA in 1996)

Farming

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much income has been generated by the collection of levies on each meat and livestock sector in Scotland by the Meat and Livestock Commission in each of the last five years.

Ross Finnie: The following table provides this information on a financial year basis.

  

 

Cattle 
  


Sheep 
  


Pigs 




1994-95 
  

£2.30 million 
  

£1.90 million 
  

£0.70 million 
  



1995-96 
  

£2.50 million 
  

£2.10 million 
  

£0.70 million 
  



1996-97 
  

£2.90 million 
  

£1.80 million 
  

£0.70 million 
  



1997-98 
  

£2.70 million 
  

£1.50 million 
  

£0.90 million 
  



1998-99 
  

£2.70 million 
  

£1.50 million 
  

£0.90 million

Finance

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which items of expenditure, if any, in the Scottish budget will be cut in real terms in 2000-01.

Mr Jack McConnell: I refer the member to the tables I gave MSPs after my statement of 6 October, which are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).

Finance

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what is the expected underspend by each of its departments and divisions in the current financial year.

Mr Jack McConnell: Levels of spending within the Executive are monitored throughout the year, with adjustments being made regularly, in order to maximise the effective use of available resources. It would therefore be potentially misleading at this stage in the financial year to predict end-year outturns.

Fisheries

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made representations on behalf of the fishing industry to Her Majesty’s Government in relation to the Scottish Waters Adjacent Boundary Order 1999 and, if so, when they were made, to whom, and whether any response has been received.

Mr John Home Robertson: I have, as promised in the debate, written to the Minister of the Crown on these matters. The outcome of this correspondence, and any ancillary consultations, will be made known to the Parliament when they are concluded.

Health

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost is of the review of acute services currently being undertaken by Tayside Health Board in the light of the announcement by the Board to commission FRMC Management Solutions and System 3 to establish 12 focus groups as part of this review and whether the establishment of these focus groups will delay the conclusion of the review.

Susan Deacon: The review process is currently underway and Tayside Health Board indicates it is not, therefore, in a position to give a total cost of the review of acute services.

  We expect Tayside Health Board to ensure the public is engaged meaningfully in the review process. In addition to the steps already taken I understand focus groups have been set up to enable the Health Board to seek the views of the communities it serves about the future design and structure of acute services. It is not anticipated that establishing these groups will delay the timetable of the review.

Justice

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how the public interest in land will be protected after the abolition of the Crown as feudal superior, as proposed in the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc (Scotland) Bill.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Abolition of Feudal Tenure Bill will not affect current public law mechanisms for protecting the public interest in land. In particular the planning system will be unaffected. In addition the Bill expressly saves the right of the Crown Estate Commissioners on behalf of the Crown to enforce burdens over the foreshore and seabed which have been conceived in the public interest.

Justice

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive why it stated that the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc (Scotland) Bill has no effect on sustainable development, as stated in the Bill’s policy memorandum.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Bill is a technical reform which makes new provision for the legal basis on which the majority of land and property, including buildings, in Scotland is owned. Issues of management and use of land, which have implications for sustainability, will be dealt with in the overall land reform action plan, including the Land Reform Bill.

Justice

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will release a list of respondents to the Scottish Law Commission’s 1991 Discussion Paper on the Abolition of Feudal Tenure, and the nature of those responses.

Mr Jim Wallace: A list of those who submitted written comments on the Scottish Law Commission Discussion Paper on Abolition of Feudal Tenure (Scot Law Com DP No 93) is appended as Appendix B to the Commission's final Report (Scot Law Com No 168). Disclosure of the nature of those responses is entirely a matter for the Commission and such requests should be directed to it.

Ministers

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of ministerial time is allocated for constituency business broken down by minister.

Donald Dewar: No such formal allocation is made. Individual Ministers manage the competing demands on their time appropriately to fulfil their duty to Parliament, to the Executive and to their constituents.

Prison Service

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent by the Scottish Prison Service on streetlighting in Greengairs in each of the past three years.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Scottish Prison Service have no interest in the street lighting system at Greengairs and, have therefore incurred no expenditure in this area over the last three years.

Water

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-668 on 26 August 1999, whether it will provide updated details on External Finance Limits for Water Authorities in the light of the statement on its expenditure made by the Minister for Finance on 6 October 1999.

Sarah Boyack: The proposed allocations of external finance for the water industry for 2000-01 and 2001-02 are £216.9 million and £218.0 million respectively. These allocations, and the External Finance Limits (EFLs) for each Authority, can be confirmed only after the Budget Bill is passed for the financial year in question. Distribution amongst the three authorities is given in the table below: -

  


Authority 


Provisional EFL
  2000-01 


Indicative EFL
  2001-02 




North of Scotland Water Authority 
  

£50.0 million 
  

£70.0 million 
  



East of Scotland Water Authority 
  

£76.0 million 
  

£66.0 million 
  



West of Scotland Water Authority 
  

£90.9 million 
  

£82.0 million 
  



Total 
  

£216.9 million 
  

£218.0 million 
  

 It is planned that part of the external finance for 2001-02 will be covered by unused provision from earlier years, and this is consistent with the expenditure plans set out by the Minister for Finance on 6October.